Published by Roslyn Green in January 2023
The Case of the “Changing” Prepositions
The prepositions in the middle of this diagram are the trickiest ones in German, since they are followed by either the accusative case or the dative case, depending on the context of the situation.
Sentence Examples
1 Wo ist mein Handy?
- Movement: Du hast es in deine Schultasche gesteckt. → You put it into your schoolbag. (accusative ending after in)
- Position: Es ist in deiner Schultasche. → It’s in your schoolbag. (dative ending after in)
2 Wo ist die Katze?
- Movement: Sie ist unter das Haus gegangen. → She went under the house. (accusative article after unter)
- Position: Sie ist unter dem Haus. → She is under the house. (dative article after unter)
3 Es gibt in dieser Stadt einen Weihnachtsmarkt!
- Movement: Wir möchten auf den Weihnachtsmarkt fahren. → We’d like to go/drive to the Christmas market. (accusative article after auf)
- Position: Wir kaufen immer Geschenke auf dem Weihnachtsmarkt. → We always buy presents at the Christmas market. (dative article after auf)
The Accusative and Dative Articles
When the context refers to movement into a particular area, the preposition is followed by the accusative case.
When the context refers to remaining, existing or being within an area, however, the preposition must be followed by the dative case.
These rules also apply to the endings on possessive pronouns.
Meaning Check
Online Activities and Materials
Quiz: Verbs That Trigger the Accusative Case in German
This quiz identifies and clarifies the meaning of key movement verbs in German and provides practice with using the accusative articles in sentences.
Kahoot: More Practice with the Changing Prepositions
This is a fairly challenging Kahoot for students who feel confident about using the “changing prepositions”.
This double-sided handout provides a summary of the information on this page, along with exercises similar to those in the online quizzes.